Welcome to
the 3rd edition, year 2, of Presidio Computer's Newsletter.
Vol
2. No. 3
June 2003
A. General
Audience
1. As our
summer monsoon season approaches, it is important for me to mention lightning
precautions. Let me make something
perfectly clear; no device will protect your computers and electronic equipment
from the millions of volts released by a lightning strike. Surge protectors are designed to protect our
equipment from surges in the power grid, produced when power generating
companies fire up another generator.
There is at least one manufacturer of uninterrupted power supply [UPS]
devices that provides a warranty against lightning associated damage. [A UPS is basically electronic circuitry
built into an auto battery to which one connects ones computer &
monitor. If the power grid fails, you
have several minutes to continue working, essentially to save the files upon
which you are working.] However, my data
is too valuable to risk loss. The easy
solution is to unplug your electronic equipment, until the storm has
passed. Be sure to disconnect your
internet connection [phone line or high speed such as cable].
2. Do you
intend to travel this summer? If your
plans include driving, you can map your route, free of charge,
at www.mapquest.com . After you enter your origination and
destination, plus and stops along the way, mapquest will provide you with a map
that you can print, as well as turn by turn driving directions, total mileage
and estimated driving time.
B.
Intermediate Users
1. The Tucson
Computer Society [ www.aztcs.org ] recently formed an
Intermediate Users Special Interest Group [SIG]. I am the leader of this group. We meet on the 3rd Thursday
evening of each month, 7pm to 9pm.
The
Intermediate Users SIG met on 19 June 2003.
Windows updates, in particular, "Device Drivers" was the
topic.
a. Device
Drivers
For an
explanation of Device Manager error codes, see:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=http://support.microsoft.com:80/support/kb/articles/q125/1/74.asp&NoWebContent=1
I performed
an update of the video card driver on my computer. I had downloaded the update in my office,
using a high-speed connection.
Downloading the 18.5 MB file over a dialup connection is impractical.
I
demonstrated that I could install a phantom modem driver,
that would show up in device manager, with "This device is working
properly.", even though a modem had not been physically installed in the
PC.
When to
update device drivers is debatable. If
your PC is performing fine, you may choose to wait, believing that "if it
isn't broken, don't fix it". Or,
you may subscribe to the "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of
cure" philosophy.
Before you
update your hardware's device driver, have on hand: 1. a blank floppy disk; 2. your official
"windows" disk; 3. the phone number for your PC manufacturer's tech
support department; 4. the disk [cd or floppy] on which the original device
driver is stored; 5. a Windows startup disk.
Caution: the registry is a database of
EVERY software setting in your computer.
If you make a mistake, your PC may not boot into Windows. YOu may lose access to ALL of your
files. Be very cautious when working
with the registry.
This data is
provided for informational purposes ONLY!!!!
Yes, I am shouting!
Before
updating device drivers, backup all the important data on your PC. At a minimum, backup the registry. To backup your registry, see:
http://www.flowsoft.com/computer101/Windows_Registry.htm
To restore
the registry, Win98, see:
http://home.adelphia.net/~bobstur/misc/w98regbu.htm
To restore
the registry, Windows Millennium, see:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=322754
To restore
the registry, Windows 2000, see:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=322755
To restore
the registry, Windows xp, see:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;322756
To restore
the registry, Windows NT4, see:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;323170
b. Startup
disk
To create a
startup disk:
For Windows
98, see:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;296532
For Windows
ME, see:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;267287
For Windows
2000, see:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;231777
For Windows
xp, see:
http://www.winxpfix.com/page10.htm#floppybootd or
http://www.labmice.net/windowsxp/install/bootdisk.htm
Also, for XP,
you may want to create a "forgotten password recovery disk". See:
http://www.winbookcorp.com/_technote/WBTA20000844.htm or
http://www.windows-help.net/WindowsXP/tune-13.html
c. Booting to
safe mode
To boot to
safe mode in "windows 98", see:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;180902
To boot to
safe mode in "windows ME", see:
http://www.cardscan.com/techdocs/general/81076.asp
To boot to
safe mode in "windows xp", see:
http://www.winxpfix.com/page10.htm#bootsafem
To boot to
safe mode in "windows 2000", see:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;315396
d. Windows
updates
Peripherally,
applying Windows updates may or may not be a good idea. These updates are generally designed to fix
"holes" [defects] in Windows, Internet Explorer, and other Microsoft
products. Remember that some updates
cannot be uninstalled.
You may be
able to access the Windows update site by clicking on the "windows
update" link from your start menu.
Alternatively, go to:
http://v4.windowsupdate.microsoft.com/en/default.asp
To roll back
the files on your XP PC, see:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q315341 . You
may want to do this after you install a service pack [sp]. For example, there is a known problem with XP
SP1. Some PCs run very slowly.
For Windows
2000, see:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=303485 .
For
considerations surrounding service packs of any Windows version, see:
http://www.labmice.net/ServicePacks/articles/survivesp.htm and http://theeldergeek.com/service_pack_1.htm
e. Also
discussed was the issue of PC slowness after upgrading Windows XP to XP SP
1. See:
http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,110031,00.asp
For
Microsoft's official statement on this issue, see:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;815411
Microsoft
recently released XP SP1a. To order the
disk, see:
http://www.microsoft.com/WindowsXP/pro/downloads/servicepacks/sp1/ordercd.asp
XP SP1 may or
may not be available.
2. Have you
ever wondered how Internet Explorer [IE] knows which web page links upon which
you have clicked? “Cache”,
as in the French word for “to store”.
IE caches the pages you have visited in files that are hidden. In order to clear this cache, special
maneuvers are required. I have learned, through
reading “PC Magazine” or “PC World” about “Spider”. Spider will remove all IE cache entries. Spider also removes the entries in “history”. Previously, I had used the history feature to
help jog my memory when I wanted to recall a web site I had previously visited.
Because
Spider erases the history entries, I have started creating my own “history”
file. I open notepad, save the document
with the name of the current date, such as 01Jun03. Then, I copy the address from the web page’s
address bar and paste it into the notepad document [often with a brief note
about the information on the site].
The
information contained in this newsletter is provided for informational purposes
only. No guarantees nor warranties are expressly given nor implied.
Spider can be
downloaded from: http://www.khafre.co.uk/sp4.htm .
I also use
“dcleaner” and “Ad-Aware” to remove information about web sites I have visited.
Ad-Aware can
be downloaded from: www.lavasoftusa.com .
Dcleaner can
be downloaded from: http://diskcleaner.tripod.com/download.htm .
Before
downloading any program, read about the program. Is it compatible for your computer’s hardware
[processor, ram, etc] and software [particularly operating system - version of
Windows]? Also, backup your data.
3. During the
May 2003 Intermediate User’s SIG, I presented different backup strategies.
a. Save all
of your disks; Windows, programs installed, upgrade/update disks. Keep track of all upgrades/updates performed
[to programs and device drivers]. Save
all upgrades to CD or DVD. Copy all of
your data to CD, DVD, Jazz/Zip disk or floppy disk.
When your
hard drive fails, re-install all of your programs, upgrades & updates; then
copy all of your data to your hard drive.
This option
requires a well-organized individual.
b. Clone your
hard drive. Cost upfront includes the
price of the cloning program and drive to which your original hard drive will
be cloned. Products discussed were
Symantec's "Norton Ghost"
[http://www.symantec.com/sabu/ghost/ghost_personal/] and Power Quest's
"Drive Image" [http://www.powerquest.com/driveimage/]. This may be the most expensive option, up
front, but it is the easiest and cheapest recovery option.
c. Backup
your data using products such as Stomp's "Backup My PC"
[www.stompinc.com] or Dantz's Retrospect Backup
[http://www.dantz.com/products/win_professional/index.html]. This option requires a cd burner or dvd burner. After
installing the backup software, perform a backup. If your hard drive fails, install a new hard
drive, install Windows and the backup program.
Then, run the backup program's restore feature.
No matter
which option you select, keep the following in mind:
A. There are
2 kinds of computer users; those who have experienced a hard drive failure and
those who will experience a hard drive failue.
B. Store your
backup media away [possibly off site, such as in a safety deposit box] from the
computer. If your PC is damaged by fire,
flood or other natural disaster, you don't want the same forces to damage your
backup.
C. Advanced
Users
1. Wireless
Computer Networks.
Connecting
computers, wirelessly, continues to grow in popularity. To deter unauthorized persons from
intercepting important information [your social security number, your user name
and password, your financial information] computer hardware and software manufacturers
use a number of techniques, one of which is Wireless Encryption Protocol
[WEP]. Unfortunately, cracking encrypted
data has become a very facile task.
Depending on
the manufacturer of your wireless router, other tools may be available to
you. You may be able to turn off the
“announce” feature, that broadcasts your wireless
network’s identity. You may be able to
limit network access to specific network cards.
Built into each network card is a “MAC” address. This address is different from the IP address
given to your computer by some device on your network.
Reminder:
You can now access previous issues of the newsletter, from my website. When you visit www.presidiocomputers.com, no
cookies are placed on your computer.
As always,
Presidio Computers, is available to assist you with
any of the computer issues described above.
If you want
your name removed from this mailing list, please let me know. Your name is not
kept in an address book. Your name is neither shared with nor sold to anyone.
You will not receive any junk mail from Presidio Computers.
The
information contained in this newsletter is provided for informational purposes
only. No guarantees nor warranties are expressly given nor implied.
Best
of success.
Sincerely,
Ed Sloup
Presidio Computers, LLC
520 731 6446
www.presidiocomputers.com